Combination marine accessory assembly

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a combination marine accessory assembly for conveniently installing a plurality of marine accessories. The assembly contains, within a single housing, a plurality of marine accessories such as lights and horns. The accessories are mounted within a single housing, and the housing is installed on the open deck of a boat. The housing of the invention further provides protection for the marine accessories.

RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 60/180,736, filed on Feb. 7, 2000.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates to marine accessory assemblies and,more specifically, to an assembly that combines a plurality of boatingaccessories such as lights and horns in a single housing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] Pontoon boats, and other similar types of boats, are designedwith an open deck where various accessories are mounted. Theseaccessories include, but are not limited to, navigation lights, horns,and floodlights. The accessories are mounted to the left and right andsometimes in the middle of the open deck. The accessories are alsomounted separately, and are typically each installed in a housing thatis then mounted onto the open deck. In addition, traditional boats mayalso have accessories installed on an open deck.

[0004] Because of the number of accessories installed onto the deck andtheir location it can take a considerable amount of time to install theaccessories. In addition, because they are installed free-standing or inan open housing on a deck, the accessories can be easily damaged ordislocated during operation of the boat. Moreover, the position of thevarious accessories can vary from boat to boat making it difficult tolocate the accessories and to standardize them.

[0005] Thus, it would be advantageous to boaters to have a means ofquickly installing boating accessories. It would also be advantageous tominimize accessory installation time by having a single assembly toinstall with a housing that can accommodate a plurality of boatingaccessories. It would also be advantageous to have an assembly with ahousing that provides protection for marine accessories that areinstalled on an open deck.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] It is an object of the invention to provide a means of quicklyinstalling a plurality of marine accessories onto the deck of a marinecraft. It is another object of the invention to have a single assemblywith one housing containing more than one marine accessory. It is yetanother object of the invention to provide an assembly with a protectivehousing for a plurality of marine accessories that are installed ontothe open deck of a boat.

[0007] The above and additional objects are realized in the presentinvention, which provides an assembly with a single housing for aplurality of marine accessories such as lights and horns. Theaccessories are mounted within the housing, and the housing is installedonto the open deck of a boat. The housing of the invention furtherprovides protection for the marine accessories.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparentfrom the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings,in which:

[0009]FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of the combination marineaccessory assembly of the invention; and

[0010]FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the combination marine accessoryassembly of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] While the invention is susceptible to various modifications andalternative forms, certain preferred embodiments are shown by way orexample in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. Itshould be understood, however, that it is not intended to limit theinvention to the particular forms described, but to the contrary, theinvention is intended to cover all modifications and alternativesfalling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by theappended claims.

[0012] The present invention relates to a marine accessory assembly orsystem that encases, in a single housing, a plurality of marineaccessories such as but not limited to lights and horns. The inventionfarther provides protection for the lenses of the lights that may beinstalled into the housing of the invention.

[0013] Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, in one preferred embodimenthaving two lights and a horn, the assembly 10 includes an outer housing18 having a front face 24, a first side 26 and a generally opposingsecond side 28, and having a plurality of openings 20, 22 on the frontface 24. In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, a first opening20 is positioned toward first side 26 of the housing so that at leastone navigation light 12 can be positioned so that the light is emittedfrom the side of the vessel as required by regulations. A second opening22 may be formed, for example, toward the center of the housing's frontface 24. This second opening 22 may be fitted with, for example, ageneral illumination light 14 such as but not limited to a floodlight.The general illumination light 14 is positioned within the opening 22 inhousing 18 so that it can shine in the direction desired by the craftoperator. The housing 18 and general illumination light 14 can bedesigned so that the direction of the light beam can be modified. Thehousing openings 20, 22 may further contain one or more reflectors (notshown) that may aid in positioning the lights in the housing 18 of theinvention. The assembly 10 is bolted to the deck of a boat by at leastone bolt mount 30, as shown in FIG. 1

[0014] In another preferred embodiment, the assembly 10 of the inventionmay further include a horn 16, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. For instance,with reference to FIG. 1, the marine accessories in the housing 18include a navigation light 12, a floodlight 14 and a horn 16, althoughother boating accessories generally located on an open deck may be used.In this preferred embodiment, an opening 32 for the horn 16 is locatedwithin the housing near the second side 28, although this opening may belocated elsewhere in the housing 18 in a location sufficiently large toaccommodate the horn 16. The opening 32 for the horn 16 can beconfigured within the housing so that the sound emitted by the horn 16can be heard in multiple directions.

[0015] The shape of the housing is designed to coincide with the shapeof the boat to which it is mounted. For pontoon boats, the housing has aslight J-shape (as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2) to follow the contourof the boat's corners. For other boats, the shape of the housing andconfiguration of openings may be different. The housing can be attachedto the front edge of the open deck or on top of the deck using boltmounts 30.

[0016] The shape of the housing also takes into account the nature oflights and is designed to protect the lenses of the navigation light andthe flood light through the optional recess 34 of the openings, as bestillustrated in FIG. 2. Once mounted, the appliances such as lights arerecessed from the outer surface 36 of the housing, as best illustratedin FIG. 2. Protection of the internal electrical components from wateris achieved by the formation of a closed structure between the mountedappliances and the housing.

[0017] Of course, other designs are possible that take into account therequirements for navigation and flood light visibility. For other boats,it is anticipated that the assembly of the invention will be formed inother shapes.

[0018] Thus, the assembly of the invention provides a convenient meansof attaching multiple marine appliances such as lights, horns and thelike to the deck of a boat. The invention accomplishes this goal byproviding a single housing into which a plurality of appliances arepositioned, which housing is then attached to the boat deck. The housingoffers an additional advantage of providing protection for theappliances through the use of recessed openings.

What is claimed is:
 1. A marine lighting assembly comprising: a housingmounted onto the open deck of a boat; a plurality of openings in thehousing; and a plurality of marine appliances, wherein one appliance ismounted within each opening and further wherein the housing and theappliances form a closed structure.
 2. The assembly of claim 1 whereinthe appliances are lights, and the lights are positioned within thehousing to emit light from the openings.
 3. The assembly of claim 1wherein the appliances are a lights and horns.
 4. The assembly of claim1 wherein the openings are recessed and the marine appliances aremounted in the openings to be recessed with respect to the outer surfaceof the housing.
 5. The assembly of claim 1 wherein the housing has threeopenings and wherein the appliances are a flood light, a navigationlight and a horn.
 6. The assembly of claim 1 further comprising at leastone boat mount.
 7. The assembly of claim 5 wherein the housing isgenerally L-shaped and wherein the navigation light is positioned toemit light in a direction generally angular to the light emitted fromthe flood light.
 8. The assembly of claim 5 wherein the openings mayoptionally contain at least one reflector.
 9. A marine lighting systemcomprising: a housing mounted onto the open deck of a boat wherein thehousing is generally a closed structure; a first opening in the housing;a first marine light mounted into the housing positioned to emit lightfrom the first opening; a second opening in the housing, and a secondmarine light mounted into the housing positioned to emit light from thesecond opening, and wherein the first and second marine lights generallyseal the first and second openings to maintain a closed structure. 10.The marine lighting system of claim 9 farther comprising a third openingin the housing and a marine horn mounted into the third opening, whereinthe housing, the lights and the horn form a closed structure.
 11. Amarine lighting assembly for use on a pontoon boat comprising: agenerally L-shaped housing mounted onto the open deck of a boat; aplurality of recessed openings in the housing; and a plurality of marineappliances, and at least one bolt mount, wherein one appliance ismounted within each opening to form a closed and generally watertightstructure, and wherein the appliances are lights and a horn and thelights are positioned within the housing to emit light from theopenings, and wherein the assembly is mounted to the deck of a boat withthe bolt mounts.
 12. The assembly of claim 11 wherein the lights are onenavigation light and one flood light and wherein the navigation light ispositioned to emit light in a direction generally angular to the lightemitted from the flood light.